


Colors & Punctuation Use

by Aeshiryzen



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Sports, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28196511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeshiryzen/pseuds/Aeshiryzen
Summary: Same school AU where Daichi quit the basketball team to become a graffiti artist. And Kuroo was salty about it, but they somehow became closer, and he was probably falling in love with Daichi too.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Sawamura Daichi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Colors & Punctuation Use

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're looking for plot, I apologize in advance. This whole whatever fic thing is mostly just Kuroo spouting poetries about Daichi. I hope the summary gives the context of the AU though.

**i. Orange Question Mark**

Somewhere in a far off galaxy, a solitary planet had been pushed off-course from its orbit. This caused quantum-level disturbances in the universe that affected life on Earth. NASA scientists would never confirm this, but Kuroo knew. 

He knew when he woke up this morning. He felt it in his cotton sheets. He heard it in the sound of his alarm. And he saw it in the red jersey jacket he tossed on the floor (because who really had the energy to neatly fold their clothes after running for three hours). The same things that never bothered him yesterday, but were now the catalyst to an irritable tick that prickled deep into his guts. 

_The world is the same but different._

His innate obsessive compulsiveness was ringing him to fix whatever needed fixing. He reckoned though that the irresistible charm of a high school boy really wasn't enough to move planets or tinker the metaphysical. And if he was powerless against the universe, then his only choice was to shake these unnecessary feelings out of his system. 

He needed getaway. He needed to move. Be active. Anything was better than staying idle inside his room. 

His grandmother once told him that he had a cat soul — which offended him because dog rules! — possessing a one in a million talent to get stuck in high places, with an unhealthy habit to bury his face into any kind of cushion (like lemon-scented comforters & giant teddy bears in department stores), but with the hyperactive impulse to jump on fences and skedaddle from any splash of water. Unpredictably predictable. 

Now, he felt the cat soul in him taking command, and he wouldn't stop it. He would be that feral cat who could turn a neighborhood stroll into an adventure. He would go out and explore exciting things. Alone. Without company. Something like those soul-searching journeys that depressed people embarked, but with less emo and more badass. 

That's how Kuroo jumped out of bed full of positive anticipation, beaming with energy, high on happy pill, all the she bang, only to end up standing in a dusty footbridge by the afternoon — lazing around, looking like he had totally given up on life.

Reality only seldom meets expectations. He wasted an entire day of wandering around, cutting off his family, blowing off his friends, and the only thing he got were series of disappointments and a box of gummy worms. 

It’s not like he didn't get his fun. He had done pretty cool things, discovered some new good procrastination spots. He got his wonderful neighborhood adventure. Yet, despite his efforts, the wrongness in his gut was still ever present.

Kuroo looked over the city. He didn't have plenty of activity choices when his motivation was at downtime low. And now he was stuck gazing at the same scenery he had seen hundreds of times.

Moving cars, weathered pavements, bright stores, a swindler, a laughing kid, a mother counting her change. The pinnacle of modern Japanese civilization in front of him, and somewhat, in that very second, the world started to blur. 

It's like the world was running from him. Too fast leaving him behind. He was still a teenager and he was already feeling the pull of mid-life crisis. He plunged down to hell, and tumbled round and back to earth, only to find he had lost his legs to move forward. He was the analog phone in the age of smartphones. The turtle in a horse race. Too slow and insignificant in this wide universe. 

Damn it, staring at this cityscape probably wasn't for the best. It only worsened the adverse inadequacy he was feeling. If you could call it a feeling. If anything, it was more similar to a curse. 

He needed a distraction. And he needed something to hold on so he could stand on the ground. Something that would prevent him from being swallowed, anything, or anyone. 

"So this is where you are. Don't get the wrong impression, no one is looking for you. If you go online, you can see people rejoicing. Kozume and Yaku, especially."

Kuroo would laugh at this moment someday. How could he not? Everything about it was set up for the theatrics. One boy was at the brimful of his internal crisis. Another boy entered the scene with his smartass comments. This happened with spectacular timing that created a critical encounter between two individuals with a complicated history. And alas, the one last push on the doomsday button that made Kuroo Tetsurou officially lose it. 

"Why are you appearing now? Who's the sadistic deity who summoned you? Why, of all the people in the world, it's you Sawamura Daichi, the Harry Potter supremacist, had to witness my turmoil? Why? No, no. You can't see me right now. You, you..."

Kuroo would rant more if it wasn't for Daichi's eyes. There's a sense of condescending controlled-anger the way Daichi looked at him. 'You are pissing me off right now and I want to beat the shit out of you. You better thank the stars that I'm a civilized person who doesn't lay his hand on unfortunate beings with injured brains.' 

"Anything else you wanna add?" Daichi stated flatly. 

"Ahhmmm… I saw a puppy wrapped in sausages today."

Daichi paced towards Kuroo. He stopped when he was close enough that their elbows touched. "Did you take a photo of the puppy?" 

"I didn't bring my phone." Kuroo didn't say that he deliberately left his phone because he was annoyed by it.

"It is our choices, Tetsu, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

"Why are you quoting Harry Potter right now? And that also doesn't make sense!" 

"Every day is an opportunity to quote Harry Potter. And it does make sense." Daichi said maybe with too much passion. "Next time, bring your phone. You know, there's a group of people out there who goes around punching people who don't bring their phones whenever they're out."

"What sort of people do that?" 

"People who want to punch Kuroo Tetsurou." Which was to say, in this particular scenario, the people was Sawamura Daichi. 

Kuroo shifted his eyes to take a clearer look at Daichi. The other boy was clad in an oversized blue hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. He's wearing his pair of worn-out white sneakers plastered with bear stickers. He's carrying his old backpack, also decorated with bear stickers. Why did he had to look like… very like Daichi. 

"Aren't you lost Sa'amura? Isn't your house in the opposite direction?"

"It's my exercise." Daichi's voice was a pitch higher, like he was caught doing mischief. "Now that I quit the team, my physical activities are limited. So taking extra walks are needed."

Kuroo saw through the lie with ease. Extra walks? Exercise? Wasn't that excuse too familiar? That was the same bullshit excuse Daichi said when Kuroo ran into him while the former was looking for his missing cat in their freshmen year. They had a fight, and Daichi had too much pride to ask help from the boy who made an unintelligent comment about the width of his waist. Oh, how stupid they were.

"Yeah,right."

"I'm telling the truth." Daichi cried. "I had my workout app running. I've walked three kilometers already."

Two years later, on this day, Daichi wore his lucky sneakers to search for another runaway cat, and he still wouldn't admit it to Kuroo's face.

There were two takeaways in this situation. One: that two years weren't enough for dumbass, stupid boys to outgrow their stupidity. And two: that cats did love it when someone went looking for them. 

Kuroo looked away. Embarrassed and giddy from the realization. He was trying not to read much into it, but he couldn't just fake everything. But Daichi was here, didn't he? 

"Hey, Daichi. Let's hang out." Kuroo uttered softly. 

If Kuroo didn't take his eyes away from the other boy, he would've witnessed the smile that crept on Daichi's face. "Any place in mind?”

"Not even playing hard to get. Aren't you too eager to spend time with me, Sa'amura-kun?" 

"I could decline if you want."

“No, no! Don't decline. About the place. Nowhere really. Why don't you choose? Surprise me.”

"The one who invited should have the idea on where to go. I guess that's too much expectation for someone like you."

"Fuck it Sa'amura. We both know I'm already drained. I don't even have the correct mindset to figure out Blue's clues."

Daichi chuckled. That light, deep-breezed laugh which made unsuspecting citizens drawn to him, kept them locked, that they couldn't look anywhere else. "I know a place. I'll love it, but you'll hate it. The perfect choice."

“It better not involve the bear kingdom over the rainbow.”

“You’re really making it hard for me to find a reason to stay with you." 

"You know how I am." Kuroo straightened his back, and proudly announced, "Im the one-dude-gateway-to-heaven-and-hell, Mr. Tokyo Express of love and anarchy!"

"Yeah, I guess that explains why you're stuck in this bridge with mismatched socks." Daichi quipped. "Yeah, yeah. I know it's some trendy fashion statement I will never understand. Come on, let's get out of here." Daichi turned on his heel.He nudged his head sideways, gesturing Kuroo to follow him. 

Kuroo took one step, and it felt different. He didn't know in what way, how that one second felt quite right, but not really. The mysterious feeling he felt all day was replaced by another deep-seated misgiving. And unlike the rest of his day, it didn't bother him. 

“Oi, Kuroo!" Daichi looked back grinning." I want takoyaki. Buy me some."

He heard Daichi's voice. He saw Daichi's face. And the world was no longer in fast forward. The universe changed, again. The planets weren't aligned, yet, probably never will be, but he didn't mind if it stayed that way. 

_The world is different but the same. Weird too, but good weird_. 

Kuroo didn’t understand it back then. That thing that screwed up his pace, that thing that he learned to want. 

Perhaps, it was darn impossible for him to keep up with the pace of the world without that boy who loved bear stickers by his side after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! ❤️❤️❤️


End file.
